around town lately

Despite it being a fairly stormy weekend with jungle-level humidity, we got out and about enough to accomplish our main goals: kiddie pool and a double date with Katie and her husband to Bouquet for some really great food, wine, and company. I can't believe how long it's taken us to finally get down to Covington to try a restaurant - we get in our heads that it's far away, but even though it's on the other side of the river from downtown Cincinnati, it turns out to actually be slightly more convenient for driving/parking, so it really doesn't take much longer to get there.

Luckily we have my 30 before June 30 list of things to do before moving away from Cincinnati, plus Katie and her husband as Covington locals, to finally get our rears in gear on this. They were right that you really couldn't go wrong with anything on the Bouquet menu, and I was very pleased that they're in the know about the must-get, house-made ice creams. The restaurant and friendly staff were perfect for a long, comfortable, and enjoyable dining experience, and this little area of Covington is so cute - they talked up some other great places, so we'll need to get back!

Everything on the menu sounded so interesting. My selections: sweet potato flatbread (with barbacoa, red onions, tomatillos, queso fresco, apples, radish, sauce molé) - yum, I want to attempt recreating this at home. Then the crab cake (with English peas, cashews, house bacon, celery, smoked pepper purée, citrus basil emulsion) - also very good - and pretty! And my excellent ice cream choices: cinnamon & chocolate. Plus there was a very nice bottle of South African pinotage that was surprisingly reasonably priced too (bonus!).

We've been up to some other fun stuff around town lately too: Earlier last week Hendrik & I had an ice cream date with Allison to try an ice cream place in cute downtown Montgomery - an area that's actually quite close to our house but we don't get over to very often. And then there was our visit to Eli's for some more of that crazy good BBQ with friends to celebrate Peter's birthday a couple of weeks ago. Love that a picnic table, BYOB kind of place is also perfect for BYO birthday cake!

Hendrik's a fan of Eli's now too - gobbled up that mac & cheese Peter shared with him (and it is really good). Actually it shouldn't be too surprising he enjoys the food as he was exposed several times in utero - including just 2 days before birth. Actually though ice cream is probably the last thing he experienced before making his entrance into the world as I had some before bed and then woke up a few hours later in labor... I'm sure he's going to love that equally as much, but sweets are the one thing I don't yet let him taste (he's just a baby - he doesn't need to know about  ice cream yet when he's willing to do things like eat peas for breakfast) so he had to settle for his favorite snack of puffits while Allison and I enjoyed our yummy flurries.